| Phoonk Movie
Review |
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Music :
Amar
Mohile |
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Lyrics :
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Direction :
Ram Gopal Varma |
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Producer :
Azam Khan |
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Leading Cast :
Amruta Khanvilkar, Shrey Bawa, Jyoti
Subhash, Ganesh Yadav, |
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Lillete Dubey, Zakir Hussain, Shanker Sachdev, Sudeep, Anu
Ansari |
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Once again Ram Gopal Varma treads one of his
favourite territories – horror. His movie Phoonk
doesn’t spook you as much as it intrigues you with
its black magic theme and its unexpected conclusion.
Not that the story’s conclusion is unconventional or
novel. Rather, it’s somewhat hackneyed. But what
surprises you is that a man like Varma would endorse
such a climax to his story where superstition holds
a sway over scientific logic. |
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Every frame of ‘Phoonk’ has an unmistakable Varma
stamp over it. The dimly lit rooms, the uncanny
characters, the lingering shots of props like toys
or statues or even crows or cats, the camera angles
and the background music – all mesh together to give
an eerie look to the movie. However, after a while,
it becomes a tad too repetitive.
The movie tells the story of Rajeev (Sudeep), a
builder |
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and a staunch atheist with a family comprising of a
loving wife (Amrita Khanvilkar), two kids Raksha (Ahsaas
Chana) and Rohan (Shrey), and a religious mother.
A non-believer in God or Devil, Rajiv’s world and his belief
system goes topsy-turvy when an evil is let loose in his
house and the most affected is his daughter Raksha who
begins behaving in strange ways.
The doctors say Raksha suffers from “psycho dissassociative
disorder” but offer no conclusive cure. Not long before it’s
clear that a black magic spell has been cast on Rajeev’s
family by some malicious ill-wishers. It’s a spell that only
an exorcist can break. |
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Unlike any pulpy horror flick, ‘Phoonk’ doesn’t
scare you with its gory details but by gradually
building up your anticipation regarding what would
unfold on the screen. Varma’s technical prowess does
come handy to this effect but there are a couple of
scenes where the filmmaker overindulges in this
style.
However, Ramu does manage to extract good
performances from the cast – particularly from
Sudeep |
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and Ahsaas Chana. Sudeep is convincing as a man
whose mind is muddled because all his non-beliefs turn out
wrong one by one. Ahsaas Chana is excellent as a child
possessed by an evil spirit. Amrita Khanvilkar gives a
restrained performance while Zakir Hussain (as exorcist) is
a bit over the top.
All in all, ‘Phoonk’ is an average horror flick that shakes
and stirs you at times but doesn’t blow you away. |
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Rating: 2.5/5 |
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